On February 18, 2021, the Ivy League Council of Presidents announced that the Ivy League “would not conduct conference seasons or conference postseason events in any spring sports.” If public health conditions “significantly improve and if permitted by an institution, local non-conference competition may be allowed,” according to the joint statement released by the Council.
As a varsity student-athlete at Harvard, hearing the news of the Ivy League’s decision to cancel intraconference athletics for the spring semester was very difficult. I feel for my teammates, especially those seniors who had risked their athletic eligibility to return to Harvard this year with the hopes of one more time wearing the crimson H. However, there are a few ways to rationalize this decision, even outside of the very real concerns of spreading COVID-19.
Though student-athletes should not suffer on account of the financial status of Ivy League athletic departments, the monetary costs for sponsoring a spring season must be weighed against the benefits. Without travel for away-games and other expenses, the price of running athletic programs during the pandemic are certainly lower than usual. However, this spring, athletics will not have the typical revenue—or any revenue—to cover its prevailing expenses. The Ivy League’s statement did not detail the possibility of spectators at any local competitions that may occur, but the odds are low they would be allowed; and even if they are, it’s unlikely that socially-distanced spectatorship would generate sufficient revenue to offset the financial risks of running competitions this season.
Further evidence of these challenges lies in the now-disrupted relationships between particular teams. Many spring sports, such as my own Track & Field, produce few dollars for Harvard Athletics, so their costs are usually covered by sports like football, basketball, and baseball. This same dynamic was brought up across the NCAA last fall, as many athletes learned that the fate of their seasons depended on the status of football, which can in some cases cover large portions of an athletic department’s costs. Since these typically lucrative sports were not so lucrative this year, they are unable to help subsidize the operations of Harvard Athletics.
Like the rest of Ivy League colleges, Harvard differs from schools in other conferences because of its large endowment from alumni and others connected to the College and its teams. Despite these endowments, athletic programs in the Ivy League are not immune to financial difficulties. In June 2020, Brown University cut eleven of its athletic teams. In July, Dartmouth College eliminated five of its sports, including its men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs. Though Dartmouth eventually reinstated all five teams, Brown only revived a handful of the teams they had eliminated. The administrations made these cuts before the start of the 2020-2021 school year, in which Ivy League sports have gone through an additional two seasons without creating any revenue. As it currently stands, Harvard has not indicated any consideration of cutting athletic programs due to the pandemic. But if any financial difficulties existed, participating in competitions this spring would only exacerbate potential problems.
In addition to the financial strains that could result from competing this year, there are logistical issues to only authorizing one out of the three seasons this academic year. The College’s December 2020 decision to invite seniors and juniors to campus in the Spring, as well as students who petitioned for housing based on environmental needs, offered no accommodation for athletes. While some student-athletes have decided to live near campus this semester, those living outside of Harvard’s housing cannot practice with their teammates housed by Harvard College. Student-athletes living outside of campus are also prohibited from seeing their coaches in-person. As a result, Harvard would find it difficult to organize team competitions given the limited number of athletes on campus.
In a January email to student-athletes, Athletic Director Erin McDermott explained Harvard and the Ivy League’s guidelines for spring sports. She shut down any possibility of a change in policy that would grant off-campus athletes a chance to compete, stating, “only students in residence on campus will be allowed to participate.” This decision, combined with Harvard’s strict standards for housing, has resulted in low numbers of team members in the Cambridge area. Indeed, some teams do not even have enough athletes to compete in their respective sports, much less the necessary reserves to complete an entire event.
There’s no getting around the fact that Harvard’s student-athletes have suffered from this decision, particularly juniors and seniors nearing the end of their time at Harvard. Student-athletes came in hoping they would compete this spring. While there is still a chance of local competition to occur, Harvard’s consistently conservative response to COVID-19 makes the inception of this competition seem like a slim possibility.
However, not all hope is lost. As a precursor (and perhaps a harbinger) to the decision to cancel Ivy League competitions, the conference made an uplifting announcement on February 12: it will allow current fourth-year seniors an opportunity to compete in conference athletics for the 2021-2022 year if they enroll as graduate students at their respective institutions. Although the announcement of this exception came after most of the deadlines to apply to graduate schools had passed, this opportunity may give some athletes another chance to compete in the future. The Ivy League needed to cancel athletics this semester—but placing sports on hold now might just save them later.
Oliver Adler ’24 (oliveradler@college.harvard.edu) promises that he wants athletes to compete.